All at once I understood with complete certainty that this partnership wasn’t going to work without some ground rules. I respected Vincent’s wishes to work with Sanders, but there were too many complications between us. I couldn’t stand here and pretend that working together would be easy. We needed strict boundaries and a set path.
“Listen, Sanders. I think we should make things clear.”
“Good idea.” He watched me so eagerly, so openly. Too openly. His earnestness left him vulnerable. Someday someone was going to shatter his rose-colored glasses and it wouldn’t be me.
“Friday night, I didn’t react well,” I started carefully choosing my words. “Like I said earlier, I was caught off guard by you being here in Green Valley. I didn’t expect to ever see you again.”
“You didn’t want to see me again?” he asked.
I hesitated. “I just—” I struggled to find a thread of the speech I prepared. “If I had known that you were the other half of Outside the Box, Skip’s partner, I would never have … I don’t want you to think that my behavior that night was in any way an attempt to persuade you to do business with the Lodge.”
Sanders blinked, his eyebrows rose in genuine surprise. “I never thought that. Not even for a second.”
He stepped closer. I didn’t retreat though every inch of me wanted to run away. “I didn’t know who you were either. I just needed to see you again. It feltimportant.”
I frowned at the ground.
“Tell me you didn’t feel that too,” he said.
“You flew across the country …”
“Just a few states, really.”
“For a connection?” I finished.
“For destiny. And I notice you haven’t denied it.”
“Sanders, you can’t talk like that,” I said. I held up a hand and took a step back. Boundaries. Plans. “The way I acted that night was out of character, that isn’t who I am.” It was though, wasn’t it? That was the real problem.
“We would have met again eventually because of work. I just took Skip’s place temporarily. It’s not as dramatic as all that. Think about it. We would have met again.” When he put it that way, the anxiety eased up a bit in my chest.
“This is all just too much,” I said honestly.
“Why did you want to leave things that night? Why so final?” he asked boldly. He wouldn’t let me look away.
I couldn’t look into those blue eyes without wanting to pour everything out. “I…I—”
“Tell me. Did I do something?” He looked so open and vulnerable again.Gah. He had to stop doing that.
“Please.” His hands reached for me but then dropped and stuffed deep into his pockets. “You can be honest. Was it me? Did I push too hard?”
“No. It wasn’t that.” Didn’t he remember that it was my idea to go back to the hotel? A fresh wave of shame burned my cheeks.
I couldn’t handle his puppy dog eyes.
“Roxy?” he pleaded and moved closer. If his eyes were catnip, then his masculine scent and the heat of his body was straight heroin to my system. I was powerless. He continued, “I know your career is important to you. My career is important to me too. Let’s leave all that back there.” He gestured to the Lodge. “Right now we’re just two people standing in the forest. We’re a man and a woman that met in a club. Tell me what’s going through your head and then back to business. I just want to understand.”
I glanced around and then forced myself to focus on his face. Tentatively, I explained, “That night, things were moving too fast. I’m not in a place to think about anything other than my career.”
There were a million other things I wanted to explain but I couldn’t even have this conversation with my best friend, let alone a business associate.
“It’s best if we move forward as coworkers. Maybe even friends. And that’s it,” I finished.
Something shuttered behind his smile. A hand rubbed his chest. “Thank you for being honest with me.”
I chewed my lip and nodded once.
“I’m so sorry I bombarded you Friday. I was just really excited to see you again.” Hear that? That was the sound of my charcoal black heart cracking open. “About the Lodge,” he said, “Outside the Box could pull out. If I messed this up. I’ll talk to Vincent and explain. We don’t have to do this if you think it’ll be too weird.”
